Respected artist, Thomasin Dewhurst has taught Art and Piano to children and adults for over twenty years. With a Masters Degree in Art and Art History, and advanced qualifications in Piano & Piano/Music Theory from Trinity College of Music, London, Thomasin offers high quality lessons and workshops for beginner to intermediate/advanced students. Students participate in two piano recitals each year, and in various art exhibitions (winning many top awards!).

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

This
month we worked on the human face and its structure in my art classes
for children. The aim of the project was to help the children
understand the form of the bones of the skull underneath the face, and
how the features (eyes, nose, mouth etc.) fit into that structure. Many
beginning art students tend to see the facial features as things that
are flat and not altogether part of the whole structure of the face. I
hoped that by really understanding the face and head, the students would
be able to express themselves in a broader and richer way when using
faces and heads in the artwork.Making clay eyeballsWe
started by making eyes out of air-dry clay. This was a simple project
to introduce or re-introduce the students to working with clay (they
learned about pulling, pushing, modelling and manipulating the clay to
make it work satisfactorily for them). The
eyes were made as round, three-dimensional eyeballs with eyelids,
irises and pupils added and then painted. The students were encouraged
to think about eyes as balls that fit into the skull rather than flat
designs attached to the skin.The
painting of the eyes had two objectives: for creativity (the students
painted the eyes in arbitrary colors or natural colors of their own
choice) and to give the students an understanding that sculptures (and
most artworks) should be finished in a way to prevent it breaking or
chipping. We used acrylic paint (it gives the sculpture a good,
protective coat) and a mixture of white glue and water on top of the dry
paint as a varnish. Many
of the students made their eyeballs into imaginary creatures before
they painted them. We had two-eyed monsters, cyclopes, watchers of
castles, eye-spiders and more!

Making Structured clay facesOnce
the eyes were finished we began on the sculptures of the full faces. I
wanted the students to look carefully at their own and each others
faces to see the parts of the face that were raised and the parts that were lower. They saw that the forehead and nose were the highest parts and the eyes and cheeks were lower. They also noticed that the eyes were slightly raised above the cheeks.The students modeled the clay to into the raised and lowered parts and then carefully modeled the shape of the brows, nostrils and lips. The clay was again modeled and smoothed to show that skin covered the face and the raised and lowered parts joined smoothly into each other.Once the sculptures were finished, they were again painted and finished with a mixture of white glue and water to help prevent chips and cracks.Drawing the sculpturesThe students then made drawings of their sculptures. From their work in clay, making three-dimensional structures, the students drawings showed a lot more understanding of the shape and form of the faces. By making the objects themselves they had a much more complete understanding of the shapes they were drawing.We also looked at how raised parts were light at the highest points and how they cast shadows onto the lower parts. The students practiced shading in various ways to show those shadows.Once they had drawn their faces they created them into objects or people from their imaginations. Students were encouraged to think about the environment their creations were in and how to used color, dark-light contrasts, shapes and objects to express the object, its environment and the story the picture was telling. We have had some great creations happen from ghosts to portraits to planets and spaceships!The importance of drawingI come from a tradition of drawing. My mother, an Art History graduate from the University of London was constantly drawing, and my brother and I, as children, drew all the time too. During my own Art degrees drawing was the core of my artistic expression as was encouraged by the art schools I attended. Drawing, to artistic expression, is the same as words are to literary expression. Without being able to draw, visual expression is limited.Drawing is much more, though, than just being able to copy something faithfully. Drawing is an understanding of line and mark-making. Like playing notes in music with the variety of pitch, texture, dynamics expression etc., and. especially, the particular touch or pressure of the performer through which the feeling and expression of the music comes, so lines and marks put down by the individual visual artist can create a multitude of different expressions.Through practice, drawing skills becomes stronger, more sensitive and individual and artistic expression becomes more satisfying. In my lessons, I encourage repeated drawing practice to facilitate creativity and innovation. The better the drawing skills, the more complex and satisfying the expression.

Recommendation for art teacher, Thomasin Dewhurst

“I have known Thomasin for a number of years in both her capacities as a student of fine art and a professional artist. She is a dedicated and highly talented artist and accomplished educator. Rarely is such talent available to those wishing to further their art education and take their artistic skills to (much) higher levels.” June 15, 2012

I use the Faber Piano Adventures series books for my students who are learning the piano. I have found these books to be thorough and very clearly presented, with many very enjoyable and varied pieces. My students, from the very young beginning pianist to the intermediate level adult pianist, find these books stimulating and challenging without being frustrating.

Faber Piano Adventures books include the Lesson, Performance, Technique and Artistry, and Theory books plus the supplementary Gold Star Performance, Popular Repertoire, Christmas, and a new sight-reading book.

Faber also offers many other piano book for early and beginning students such as books on improvisation, duets, collections of rock 'n roll pieces, classics, favorite pieces, and many more.